Not enough progress at Houston pound, officials complain

Progress at pound, but it's not enough, officials say

BILL MURPHY, Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle |
February 16, 2009

Vet-Tech DeWayne Compton weighs a stray dog at the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care last week. Four years after a task force report on conditions at the facility, not enough improvement has been achieved, city officials say.

In 2005, Mayor Bill White’s task force on animal protection had a heady list of goals, none more ambitious than this: significantly reducing the euthanasia rate at the region’s animal shelters, including the city pound.

Four years later, city officials say progress has been made implementing the task force’s recommendations. The city pound — the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care — has saved lives by transferring more pets to rescue groups. And BARC now scans animals for computer identification chips, making it more likely pets will be returned to their owners.

But city officials, including White, say killings at the facility have not gone down as much as they had hoped. And animal welfare activists say the pound, geared toward picking up roaming dogs and other animals, has not shouldered the responsibility of finding homes for them, work that will require cooperation with volunteers and rescue groups.

“We want a dramatic double-digit percentage decrease in the number of animals that are euthanized,” White said. “There needs to be a new culture at BARC that is friendly to volunteers, works well with nonprofit organizations and survives the loss of a director,” he said, referring to Kent Robertson, who resigned as bureau chief and has not been replaced.

Statistics in doubt

Some animal welfare activists say BARC is poorly run, in part, because it is underfunded. City officials acknowledge that BARC’s statistics on euthanasia are unreliable, and some activists wonder if the euthanasia rate has gone down at all.

“BARC’s philosophy is still round the animals up and kill them,” said Margaret Gondo, longtime volunteer at BARC and a member of the 2005 task force. “This goes back to Bill White. He doesn’t want to foot the bill for animal control. He wants the private sector to foot the bill.”

The mayor’s task force was formed after the Chronicle reported in 2004 that about 80 percent of about 110,000 animals brought to the county’s five largest public and private animal shelters, including BARC, were killed annually.

Across the country, a movement to turn shelters into no-kill facilities, which euthanize only unhealthy or aggressive animals, has slowly gained momentum during the past two decades and is now gaining traction in Houston.

Expert to weigh in

With money raised by animal welfare advocates, the city will bring in Nathan Winograd, author of Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & The No Kill Revolution in America, to suggest ways that BARC could reduce euthanasia, White said.

Here are recommendations of his task force and the progress made:

◘Euthanasia: The group concluded that BARC had not kept reliable statistics on animal intake and euthanasia. That hasn’t changed. BARC officials said they could not provide the Chronicle with reliable statistics for 2005-2008 but said the percentage of animals being killed had decreased.

◘Spaying and neutering: The task force recommended that the city increase free and low-cost spaying and neutering by subsidizing the non-profit Spay Neuter Assistance Program and by enlisting veterinarians willing to help. BARC paid SNAP $25,000 to perform surgeries last year. Funding increased to $50,000 this year and will rise to $100,000 next year.

◘New positions: The task force said BARC should hire four coordinators who would focus on returning lost pets to owners, arranging adoptions, overseeing volunteers and educating the public. None of these posts has been created.

◘Funding: The task force suggested ways for BARC to increase its funding from its 2004 level of $3.2 million. BARC has a $4 million budget this year.

“Some (task force) recommendations would require a much more extensive budget at BARC,” White said. “I’ve had very open discussions at City Council about budget priorities…We have tried to both hold the line on property taxes and meet public needs on public safety and health needs…”

White said a 25 percent budget increase for BARC since 2004 shows Houston is committed to improvements.

◘Adoptions: In 2004, 937 animals were adopted at BARC, and 576 dogs and cats were transferred to rescue groups. Task force member Gondo said adoptions and transfers have at least doubled since 2004, in large part, because rescue groups work hard to find homes for animals. BARC officials said they don’t have reliable statistics on adoptions and transfers for 2008.

◘Volunteers: The task force said BARC should make better use of volunteers and rescue groups. Activists said more animals were transferred to such groups during bureau chief Robertson’s tenure but relations between rescue groups and BARC soured after Robertson resigned. BARC officials said they have been working to repair relations with the groups.